Classic stories...

Ballerina, Janet Collins was the first and only African American to become Prima Ballerina at the Metropolitan Opera in New York (1951). She still holds that accomplishment.

Bern Nadette Stanis recreated in her time in the spotlight the assessments of young Black womanhood. It was during the early 1970's as Black America made another profound cultural shift on television and the other creative arts. At this time a white screenwriter wrote Black folks our cultural heroes. Starting with the ghetto as a focal point to be understood by white America his scripts for the funny show, Good Times, made the entire country gawk for different reasons and laugh. Bern Nadette Stanis, as I said, was pivotal to the show and undoing the typical roles for Black women in this field of artistic endeavors. . . - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 11/12/17

Cause of Effect

Oh, my God in heaven! I've never seen this picture of Bern Nadette Stanis before! Did someone hide it from public view? She is still the exceptional personality and beauty in Hollywood. As she has aged she has matured and deepened. That is a testament of her cultural legacy and the work ethic she has left in place for other Black actors to look at, study and emulate. - Gregory E. Woods (11.4.13)

Cause of Effect is the science of attraction, hypnosis and seduction. - Dawn Wolf 

PIVOTAL IN OUR HISTORY

Bern Nadette Stanis by  Raymond Boyd is the actress known for her role as Thelma in the 1970's black comedy Good Times. It was a hit and a source of Black Pride, but, as many of our thematic shows were at the time, was written by a white man. There were inherent conflicts for me watching the show every week. For one it was funny, and felt good seeing Black folks, and Black issues and emotions on live television, but I could not relate to the struggles of the family in the ghetto. Nor, could I see the relationship I had with my father in the same light as depicted on that show, and many of the shows and movies at the time. What I did do was try to envision myself in those situations to see the world through their eyes without judgement to weigh it and judge it. It was easy with the background of reading and studying I had, and my unique perspective being the son of a Civil Rights leader, and a diplomat.

The big challenge was to learn to not accept the notion that the lives of the show's characters was the Black Experience in its totality. That was hard to do because so much of our story is about struggle, but struggle was not in the context of the ghetto and the cotton fields only. It lived in divers places, and I was a being in the making that took years to become Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories! - Gregory E.. Woods 8.11.13

Bert Williams, first true pop star, vaudeville singer 1874-1922

symbol of SUCCESS in Black America

Bern Nadette Stanis, actress GOOD TIME, * author of  Situations 101, The Good, The Bad & The Ugly , and her book of poetry: For Men Only